1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to resolving host name data on a computer network. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems, methods, and computer program products for resolving host name data that is not natively compatible with host name resolution techniques of an associated computer network.
2. Background and Relevant Art
Computer systems are often coupled to one another through networks that allow the computer systems to exchange data with each other. However, the majority of these computer systems are not directly coupled in a one-to-one relationship. Instead, these computer systems typically exist in a network environment wherein multiple computer systems are interconnected and each computer system has a communication path to all the other computer systems included in the network. To reliably exchange data on a network where multiple computer systems are interconnected, there must be some way to identify individual computer systems in the network.
In virtually all networks, “network addresses” are utilized to uniquely identify individual computer systems. When a first computer system sends data to a second computer system, the first computer system may send the data to the unique address that identifies the second computer system. In a large number of networks, including the Internet, this unique address is in the form of a numeric Internet Protocol (“IP”) address of either 32 or 128 bits. An IP address may be 32 bits when formed in accordance with Internet Protocol version 4 (“IPv4”) and may be 128 bits when formed in accordance with Internet Protocol version 6 (“IPv6”).
An IP address formed in accordance with IPv4 is typically a 32 bit address written in the form of four numbers separated by periods, each number ranging from 0 to 255 such as, for example, “100.101.102.103”. However, since human-readable names having associated meaning are easier to remember than a series of numbers, addresses are often represented by an alphanumeric domain name. For example, “www.testcorporation.com” may represent the same computer system as the numeric IP address 100.101.102.103. That is, the domain name www.testcorporation.com may facilitate access to a computer system that has the numeric IP address 100.101.102.103.
In an IP environment, the Domain Name Service (“DNS”) facilities resolving domain names into numerical IP addresses. During operation, a DNS server receives a DNS request from a computer system on an associated network. A DNS request is typically received at port 53 of the DNS server and typically includes a domain name that is contained in one or more Universal Datagram Protocol (“UDP”) packets. The DNS server resolves the domain name into a numeric IP address by searching a table that includes domain names and the numeric IP addresses that are represented by the domain names. After finding an appropriate numeric IP address, the DNS server returns the numeric IP address to the computer system that submitted the request.
Problems may arise during name resolution if a requesting computer system cannot provide a domain name in a format that is compatible with a DNS server. This may occur, for example, when name resolution is requested over a communication link that does not support UDP. One solution to this problem has been to replace binary components utilized by an operating system when requesting resolution of a domain name. That is, to recode and recompile components of the operating system to make them compatible with newer or proprietary name resolution techniques. This may include replacing Application Program Interfaces (“APIs”) included in an operating system that facilitate host name resolution. However, changes to such APIs may propagate to other parts of the operating system, resulting in the consumption of substantial programming resources in order to modify the APIs.
Even if substantial programming resources are available, a manufacturer may no longer support an operating system. It is unlikely a manufacturer would create binary replacements for host name resolution modules included in an unsupported operating system. Thus, if the unsupported operating system is widely deployed, it may be costly to upgrade to newer operating systems to gain compatibility with newer or proprietary name resolution techniques.
Therefore, what are desired are systems, methods, and computer program products for resolving host name data, which is not natively compatible with host name resolution techniques of an associated computer network, in a manner that does not require modification of existing operating system modules.